Post compettition accuracy reflection

Our trebuchet, was the most accurate in the competition as we were only half a meter from the center of the target, but aside from our lucky throw we had a very large range in our throws. This is because we were almost constantly tinkering with our angle of release and the amount of weight for our counterweight. If we could modify our trebuchet we would make the release mechanism more malleable and brace our load bearing arms better. If we were to create a new trebuchet we would make the throwing arm longer, make our base narrower and make sure the frame is more properly braced.

Trebuchet range

Our trebuchets theoretical range was 813 meters  but our average was only 30.41 meters, our actual distance is actually less than a 20th of our theoretical range. this is pehaps because of faulty engineering, air resistance, angle of release, stabillity issues, and the range is a bit rediculous for the actuall dimensions of our trebuchet. 

Trebuchet test day

Our trebuchet threw an average of about 20 meters on test day but our counter weight was becoming damaged after repeted use, and we concensually deemed it innefficent for our purposes. We then revised our counterweight system to provide greater accuracy by useing weighted bar bells as opposed to our previous pail of bolts. We also revised our support system and axle as we were having issues with axle strength and frame rigidity.

Everyday Physics

Over the course of my spring break, worked on a house north of Virden with my fathers construction company, in which I manipulated two natural forces in order to complete my job of insulating. In order to have the insulation stay in the cavities I placed it in, I had to pit static friction of the insulation in the cavity against the force of gravity acting on it. The insulation I was placing was fiberglass, and it is a insulation with a very large surface area. This allows it to have greater static friction, while having a very small mas for gravity to act upon. It is because of this reason that it can sit indefinitely without any sort of fastening agent to help it stay where it is placed.    

Medical Physics

Our project topic is the CT scan, in which Cody and myself are working on the report, Kris is working on the power point, Cody and Kris are working on the activity, and i am working on the fact sheet.

Egg drop analysis

On the day of performance our teams egg contioner was 321.1grams heavy, was slightly under 25 centimetres on all planes, and took a total of 0.94 seconds to fall the 5 metre distance. Luckily our egg survived perfectly, despite our team having the heavyest continer. Unfortunately this heavy mass hindered our overall egg score and our team took second last place with a total of 62.29 egg points.
Of the criteria our container had to meet, the size standard was the hardest to work around as our team had to modify our container post creation to fit this measure.
Despite our difficulty with out container dimensions our suspension system, the most effective part of the design, was still effecient as i could absorb almost all of the inpact from the fall. The lest effective part of our design however, our containers lid, was never remedied as it contantly popped open while testing.
I order for our container to hold two eggs for a test we would have to replace our current interior container with that of a larger one as well as upgrading the suspension system to absorb a larger impact.

Egg Prototype

Our project consisted of a large cardboard box with a smaller box suspended by elastics on the inside (in which our egg will sit) both of which are supported by a liberal wrapping of tuck-tape. We ran into some difficulty when our box dimensions were too large, but was easily corrected by cutting and shimming  a side inward. We also had issues when our egg (not in a plastic bag) broke in our box ,compromising the sanitation of our project. We then had to use different materials (foam to gauze) to cushion our egg, these materials were not as effective as our previous ones and gave mixed results. We then switched our materials yet again (gauze to bubble wrap) which then proved to be as (or more) effective than our fists choice of materials.

Day 3

Today we added a cluster map, and Customized the security options on our blog, these options include comment and spam. We are also providing criticism, in the form of a comment, on each class members blog stating two things we like and one they can improve.

The Physics Begins

The physics class begins! Today we created our blog and added the customizable gadgets.